The Aviator tells the real life story of Howard Hughes, a brilliant engineer and ambitious moviemaker in the 20th century whose life starts to spiral out of control with his obsession of germs and perfection. Although the film does not directly state that Howard has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the movie gives hints of the symptoms throughout. Each scene depicts a more intense symptom Howard experiences and towards the end of the film, we see Howard being completely consumed by this serious disorder. When Howard’s OCD fully sets in, we see many of the symptoms typical of an OCD patient and how impairing it can be to the individual.
Howard’s behaviors are relatively consistent with the elements of abnormality. We see that he is suffering. Howard is consumed by his fear of contamination. We see him struggling to make sense of his destructive behaviors as he tries to contain them. His behaviors are also maladaptive. He refuses to eat when his food is not arranged in order and washes his hands excessively to the point where they bleed. At one point he locks himself in his screening room, withdrawing from others because he was afraid of being contaminated from the outside. Howard also displays signs of irrationality. He admits to seeing things that…show more content… The neurotransmitter Serotonin seems to be strongly implicated in OCD. Serotonin plays an important role in how we think and process information from our environment. It affects our moods and behaviors as well. It is unclear what causes the dysfunction of serotonergic systems in OCD, but current evidence show that increased levels of Serotonin in the brain can alleviate OCD symptoms. At the same time, too little can trigger OCD symptoms as well. However, having irregular levels of serotonin alone does not explain OCD. Other neurotransmitters such as dopamine and GABA also seemed to be involved, although “their role is not yet well understood” (Butcher et al.,